Cheng Hsing Yao, group CEO of GuocoLand, will be appointed as the deputy president of the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) effective Nov 1, according to a press release from the Ministry of National Development (MND) dated Oct 30. Cheng is the second person to be appointed as deputy president since CEA was formed. The first person to serve in the position is the current council president, Quek See Tiat, between August 2015 and October 2016.

In addition to Cheng, the council will also appoint two other new members, Dexter Tay Hai Hong, executive director of the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE), and Adam Wang Teck Hong, president of the Singapore Estate Agents Association and key executive officer of FER Properties.

They will join Quek See Tiat, president of CEA, and eight other re-appointed members for the council's next term, starting on Nov 1, 2024 and ending on Oct 31, 2026.

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Four council members from the current term will be stepping down from their positions on the CEA – Thomas Tan Thiam Hee, CEO of SRI; Lok Vi Ming, managing director of LVM Law Chambers; Mohamed Abdul Akbar Bin Mohamed Abdul Kader, managing director of Nan Guan Construction and Ng Boon Yew, executive chairman of Raffles Campus Group.

Established in 2010, the CEA is a statutory board that regulates and promotes a professional and trusted real estate agency industry. Its key responsibilities include the licensing and registration of property agents.